Baby awake for long period in the night

[mrssunshinexxx]

Does anyone else’s baby regularly wake up in the night for 1-2 hours ? My LO does all the time and I just don’t know what to try is she getting too much sleep in the day/ not enough/ napping too close to bed time/ not close enough .. she's 6 months next week
Her routine roughly is
Wake 8.30am
Nap 11-11.45am
Nap 2pm-4pm
Bedtime 7.30pm

[JingleJohnsJulie]

Is the waking a new thing OP?

[girlmummy25]

Yup my DD has done this on and off for pretty much always!
Shes 18m. But sometimes she will sleep through for about 2 weeks then a random 2 hour awake window in the middle of the night for a couple nights then straight back to sleeping through again.

I have no answer it baffles me

[User0ne]

It's normal baby behaviour (or at least well within the range of it). Do you have to do anything with her while she's awake? Ds2 was like this for a bit; we co-slept and I mostly just ignored him/dozed while he babbled away.

Might be trickier if she's crawling!

[Avacardo2020]

I could have written this myself!
My baby does the same. She's 6 months in a few days, I've been co sleeping with her but around 12-1am she's up and wants to play... she finally returns to sleep about 5.30/6. She used to go through the night so I know she's not waking because she's hungry, she just wants to play.

The last few days I've cut out her afternoon nap and transferred her to the cot.. And she's slept much better, her last nap is at 1 and I wake her for 2/3pm, then keep her up until 7.30/8pm. She does get very grumpy but she has started to learn to stay asleep. Would this be possible? Just an idea!

[mrssunshinexxx]

@JingleJohnsJulie she has done it on and off for weeks and weeks I think it coincides when she is learning a lot of new things

@User0ne I get her out and feed her then put her back in the cot she usually babbles for ages then starts whinging so get her out and feed again then put her back in and shush her for AGES and she eventually goes to sleep a particular bad night I need to rock her back off

@Avacardo2020 what time does your lo wake up and have first nap? Interesting you should say that as yesterday's naps were terrible she only had 20 mins in the morning as we went to a baby group then 1.5hour in the pm and woke at 3.20 she was grouchy when woke but only woke up twice last night and no playtime

[converseandjeans]

At that age mine would be as follows

Wake up 7
Nap 9-9.45
Lunch nap 12-2
Bed 7

So I think if you want a full night you need to wake them up at 7am. There's plenty of books and apps with suggested routines.

Other option is to start day at 8.30 & have later long nap say 1-3pm or 2-4 and then later bedtime at 8.30.

[mrssunshinexxx]

@converseandjeans good idea I think 7am isn't early and wouldn't mind at all starting day then IF i was getting some decent sleep some days she wakes at 7 she did today and I got up with her because we had a better night
Yesterday she napped
9.55-10.20am
1.50pm-3.20pm
Bed time and asleep 8pm
Woke at 9 something and dh re settled then she woke at 12.10am
Then 3.30am back asleep for 4am then woke at 7am today so going to try put her down at 9am but do you think I should wake her after a certain amount ?

[mrssunshinexxx]

@converseandjeans I can't imagine at this age her managed a 5 hour awake period ..

[converseandjeans]

mrssunshine maybe there was a 20 min nap late afternoon? But we would wake ours up at 7 every day and stuck to set nap times. It sounds like OPs baby will do decent naps in the day, which not all babies do.
OP we used to wake ours up from naps too so they didn’t have too long during the day.
It was hard sometimes getting up every day at 7 - like being at work. But the trade off is they sleep longer at night.
DS only ever really did 11 hours at night so if he went to bed 7 he’d be up at 6 so he had a slightly later bedtime as 6 was too early for me. He did sleep solidly for those 11 hours.

[mrssunshinexxx]

@converseandjeans what age was he doing that block from ? X

[converseandjeans]

mrssunshinexxx from 6 weeks. They would have a slightly longer morning nap 9-10 and definitely another one around 4.30/5ish at 6 weeks old. But I was quite focused on getting them to sleep at night as I can't imagine not getting sleep at night & then going to work. So I would keep them awake when they were supposed to be awake and put them down to nap when they were supposed to be asleep. It did work as both slept through (with a dream feed about 10/10.30pm) from 6 weeks. They would also do the same timings as they were so used to it they would go off to sleep/wake up when it was the right time.
I went back to work as a teacher when DD was 4 months and DS when he was 6 months. So the sleep/routine was really important for me. There's only 19 months between them so even with good sleep in place I was worn out.

[mrssunshinexxx]

Wow you have your hands full and not surprised you wanted a routine going back to work quite soon
I have been considering a dream feed for bloody months but always talk myself out of it scared that it will properly wake her up
@converseandjeans

[converseandjeans]

I don't think they can go for the whole night without a top up. Used to do the same with potty training - dream wee about same time. It sounds like yours is already in some sort out routine anyway - probably just sleeping in too late in the mornings?

[madcatladyforever]

It isn't built into to us that we should sleep for 8 hours straight. It's a learned behaviour.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783

[madcatladyforever]

I've always woken up at around 2 am and read for a bit and have a cup of tea before going back to sleep.

[ElspethFlashman]

Yeah this is a "thing".

Not all babies do it, but 1 of mine did. Basically awake for 2 hours, usually between 2am and 4am.

It went on for 6 months. We were on our knees.

Looking back, I wish someone had told me that nothing I did would make much difference. I must have spent hours googling naps etc. I thought if I did everything right then it would stop.

In reality, I did everything right and it still only stopped when he grew out of it. It was a developmental stage.

So my advice is to get yourself comfy. Don't feel like you're "giving in to it" as you have no choice and need to mind yourself. Bring in a duvet and a comfy chair or a mattress even. I spent far too many weeks freezing my tits off sitting upright on a wooden chair beside the cot. I should have just lain down and tried to sleep.

[LimpLettice]

My now 2 year old did this from about 4 months until 18 months. It was a killer especially as I was pregnant again by the time he was 1. Nothing we did made a blind bit of difference. It is fairly normal I'm afraid. We were told to try dropping later naps by a sleep consultant but it was all fruitless.

He doesn't do it now, but he does co sleep with DH. Wakes for a few minutes but just climbs in with his dad and goes straight back to sleep.

[mrssunshinexxx]

Thanks @converseandjeans I'm definitely trying my best to make sure she is rested and happy. Agree I probably need to be consistent and actually set an alarm. I think it's hard because I'm knackered and it's so dark ! But I will be consistent from now 7am

[mrssunshinexxx]

Do you think I should risk a dream feed ?@converseandjeans

@ElspethFlashman luckily she doesn't do it every night I do think it's connected to her naps personally. I sleep next to her in a double bed and she's in her cot but in a really bad night I bring her into bed with me

[converseandjeans]

Yes I reckon try tonight. Hope it works.

[Avacardo2020]

Our rough routine goes like this...

5am - 6am -- she'll wake up
6am - out of the cot, I don't take her out before this time unless she's very distressed.
Play until 9, then have purée
Nap about 10/12
Then we play until her second nap, then I keep her awake by playing until bath and bed, she does get grouchy but she's started to get used to it now.

[mrssunshinexxx]

@converseandjeans didn't dream feed her as she woke at 10ish anyway or do you think it makes a different for me to get in there and dream feed her before she wakes even if she's waking at a convenient time for me (just before I want to go to sleep)

[converseandjeans]

Any luck with getting them to sleep longer?

[mrssunshinexxx]

She's only woken twice the last 2 nights dh has been going in and rocking her if she wakes before 3 hours after bedtime feed so that seems to be working. Why do I still feel exhausted